Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Like many homes used mostly by vacationers, the lovely house where we're staying has accumulated a nice collection of older books. One I ran across might be thought obsolete: Calvin Trillin's little 2004 volume, Obliviously On He Sails: The Bush Administration in Rhyme. But on opening it, I ran across some little gems. Not as much has changed as we'd like as Congress considers whether to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

THE REPUBLICAN PLAN TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY

It's very hard to estimateJust what it takes to stimulateA corporation, but we knowThese people need a lot of dough.And so, if no one else objects,We'll cut them some humongous checks.But stimulating them is tough.A billion may not be enoughTo spur a corporation whileIt keeps its CEO in style.It's possible we should exploreSome way that we can give them more.We may just give them all we've got:It takes a lot to keep them hot.--Dec. 3, 2001

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A REPUBLICAN DISCUSSES TAXES

Because they pay too much in taxes --To feed the poor and fight the axis --The rich are truly discommoded.It spoils the fun of being loaded.So we should tax the poor instead --A tax on alms, or day-old bread.-- Feb. 3, 2003

What is this blog for?

This San Francisco purveyor of graffiti has it right. When times are bleak -- when country and planet sink under the barely restrained sway of greed, raw power, and fear -- it's time to restate what matters.

I write here to preserve and kindle hope for a national and global turn toward multi-racial, economically egalitarian, gender non-constricting, woman affirming, and peace choosing democracy that preserves the habitability of earth for all. There's a big order -- but what else is there to do but struggle for this? Not much.

Topics range from the minuscule to the transcendent to the global, from dire to delightful. I am not an optimist, but I refuse to allow myself to wallow within the easy bias that everything is going to always be awful. Good also happens; love lives too.

I've been yammering here about activism, politics, history, racism and other occasional horrors and pleasures since 2005. I intend to continue as long as the opportunity exists. In this time, that means activism and chronicling resistance. Perhaps it always has, one way and another.

About Me

I'm a progressive political activist who runs trails and climbs mountains whenever any are available. I've had the privilege to work for justice in Central America (Nicaragua and El Salvador), in South Africa, in the fields of California with the United Farmworkers Union, and in the cities and schools of my own country. I'm a Christian of the Episcopalian flavor; we think and argue a lot. For work, I've done a bit of it all: run an old fashioned switch-board; remodeled buildings and poured concrete; edited and published periodicals, reports and books; and organized for electoral campaigns. Will work for justice.